My watch history is typical of any child growing up who was fascinated with their father’s watch. My father wore watches ranging from Seiko to Omegas but never quite made the jump to Rolex. He was not a watch enthusiast and was content with only reliable time keepers and wanted nothing more aesthetically. As a typical eight year old, I wanted to obtain my first watch to feel a sense that I was growing up and becoming older. While on holidays in Hong Kong, I asked my father to buy me my first watch and being the wonderful father who always spoiled us (like I do my kids), he complied and bought me my first red-strapped, green dial Mickey Mouse watch. Mind you, it was a quartz watch with no minute repeater or chronograph complication but it did suffice and needless to say I was overjoyed. I loved the feeling of metal on my wrist and the sense of self-importance it gave me as if I was living as a working adult now that I was able to tell the time. I doubt its accuracy was +/-2 seconds per day but hey, at that age accuracy was as irrelevant as the price my father had paid.
As I grew into my teen years I wasn’t as preoccupied with watches as I was in childhood or adulthood, so I was content with wearing Casio and Timex digital battery operated watches. While they served their purpose as perpetual calendars and timekeepers, they were always being replaced because of water damage or for no reason at all. Deep down, I knew that quartz or digital watches were not permanent and in my teens and 20s, I longed for watches that were more robust and that would last for more than 2-3 years. I always had the notion that well-manufactured mechanical watches would hopefully offer more lifelong permanence.
The Timex phase continued through college and even after I graduated from my medical licensing exam. I am quite embarrassed to say that I even wore a Timex on my wedding day! However the thirst for luxury watches must have surely been in my subconscious because I started to purchase some sporty Tag-Heuers when I was making a decent income and paying off my debts.
My first real watch purchase, and coincidentally my first real mechanical watch was an Omega James Bond Seamaster (I really wanted a Rolex but couldn’t afford one yet). The Omega served its purpose well as a tool watch. It was the heaviest watch I had ever purchased and I used the ceramic bezel to time parking meters and took it snorkelling and diving in Mexico. The watch was short-lived however and lasted barely a year when I sold it to a friend at a huge depreciation. Shortly after, my friend sent it for servicing to Omega Switzerland for a well known defect in Omega’s new coaxial mechanism.
The main reason I sold the Omega was to purchase the Rolex Batman featured in my next blog.